Two years after my experience in Paris, I decided to get back into French and move to Montréal (in 2007). It was a drastically different experience to my time in Paris! Everyone was so incredibly nice to me, people were much less formal and more open to making friends, and they especially had more patience to help me with my French.

Montréal and Quebec in general are among the most favourite places I’ve lived in, in the last decade of travelling. I still think very fondly back to my time there with my amazing and hilarious flatmates (Je m’ennuie de vous, Marie-Ève et Marlène!!), the parties, the Jazz fest, Juste pour rire and the amazing city and its open mind and warmth.

I especially liked Saint Jean (which I went to Quebec city for) – an incredible celebration which is comparible to other world festivals, but with the bonus of everyone coming up to you and wishing you Bonne Saint-Jean! Even the Carnival in Brazil didn’t have that level of interaction!

The Quebec spirit is one I definitely agree with and I highly recommend people go there (especially Americans due to proximity and likely easier bureaucratic visa etc. process) if they’d like to learn French.

Interview en français avec ma Couchsurfeuse Geneviève

The reason I’m bringing this up now, even though I’m in Amsterdam, is because I’ve been hosting a Québécoise for the last couple of days via Couchsurfing. As I’ve described in detail before, I use Couchsurfing as a means to maintain and practice all my languages on a regular basis, no matter where I am.

Since it’s been four years since I’ve lived in a French speaking country, I should technically have totally forgotten my French, but luckily I have been maintaining it thanks to hosting francophones.

Geneviève agreed to let me test out my new camera (which I’ll be using to interview those I host and come across in my travels in various languages in future) and ask her to share some thoughts on Quebec and Quebec French, and even share some frustration we both had Parisians (which luckily hasn’t been my experience elsewhere in France).

[Correction: She said that outside of Quebec they only speak English, which is of course forgetting about New Brunswick and many strong francophone communities throughout Canada.]

Hopefully you liked the questions I asked her! The 13 minute video goes as follows:

Intro 0:00 – 0:36

[0:37] What’s different between Quebecers and the French?

[2:21] Some unfairness about preference for English in Montreal and the need to preserve French

[3:27] How foreigners are very much welcomed in French-speaking Quebec

[4:00] The history of where Quebec curse words come from and some examples

[5:30] Things to do to be more Quebecois

[6:27] Difference in use of “les anglais”

[6:53] Differences in how “a” is pronounced in some words

[7:41] Spending time with Quebecers to get used to the accent

[8:11] General vocabulary that is different in Quebec French

[10:55] Geneviève’s travels and thoughts on travelling to keep an open mind

[12:41] Wrapping up and me saying “I miss Quebec” in Quebec French

Hopefully my rusty (but still fluent) French doesn’t slow the interview down too much As you can imagine, my preference will be to share interesting videos like this rather than using my languages as a dancing monkey for no good reason. This is what languages are all about for me; interesting conversations with people. Expect more of these to feature on the blog

Any thoughts on how different Quebec French sounds? Have any of you been to la belle province? Let me know in the comments below!

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Liam

Vive la Quebec!

deixmachinis

*le* Québec

Aaron

Is French in Quebec compared to France like comparing American English to British/Australian English? Over 90% of the words are the same, but pronunciation, some spelling, and slang are different? Elevator/Lift trunk/boot pants/trousers and spelling like tire/tyre?

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

From Wikipedia:
If a comparison can be made, the differences between both dialects are probably larger than those between standard American and standard British English, similar to the differences between Brazilian Portuguese and that of Portugal, but far less than those between standard German and Swiss German

Sylvie Bérard

You’re probably talking about oral French. For written French remains the same in Québec and France: spelling is the same, grammar is the same, and (written) syntax is the same.

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

Quebec is a neat place! Check it out

http://twitter.com/adjusting adjusting

Just a small correction: She stated that Quebec is the only bilingual province, and that outside Quebec all of Canada is english.Actually, the province of New Brunswick is officially bilingual, with about 33% of its population being francophone. There are over a million french canadians outside of Quebec, with francophone communities located everywhere from Prince Edward Island to British Columbia.

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

Very true! I will be going to Vancouver briefly in June and I hope to find some francophones there

Max_hydrogen

True but those minorities can’t actually function inn French at all. There’s even a fascist group in New Brunswick called The Anglo Society that want’s suppress French rights. The only bilingual province in Canada is Québec, even though it is officially unilingual. Canadian bilingualism is a joke!

LittleStudent

Quebec bilingualism is a joke. Obviously Nova Scotian Acadians do function in French. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t have Francophone public schools and a University where immigrants from all over go to learn French. I’m a waitress, French is heard all across Nova Scotia.

Jonathan Rand

waitresses are all hoes bitch, slutty hoe

Dick Leigh

I did 12 years of french in public school. The only reason bilingualism is a joke is because francophones and anglophones don’t try to understand each other.

Mainlander

Quebec is NOT a bilingual province. It’s is officially French only.

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

I’ve edited the post to compensate for any mistakes with a warning before the video

Max Hydrogen

Saying that French is a minority in relation to English is like saying Welsh is a minority in relation to English. Québec is not Canada. French is the language of Québec and what’s this about victimization? Why do YOU invoke such a thought? Maybe because it’s true…

Justin

That was really interesting! I have often wondered about the different between Canadian French and French French. I am interested in learning French and it looks like Quebec might be the place to do it!

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

As I said in another comment, it’s better to diversify your French by learning a non-standard (i.e. non-Parisian) accent. As well as this it’s easier to move to Montreal and live there for so many other reasons. Finding work is a challenge if you don’t have French (despite what Geneviève said in the video, based on people I knew, it was actually just as hard to get a job if you are an English speaker with no French).

Although my French was good enough to work there, I had my Internet-based translation work at the time.

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

Haha thanks! Although speakers from France will confirm that I was adapting a lot of Geneviève’s speaking patterns. I’m kind of caught in the middle. French speakers swear that I’m Quebecois when they meet me (which is so flattering; it’s as good as calling me a native!) and Quebecers tell me I sound way too French. What I’d like to do is switch effortlessly between both accents when required, as I do in Spanish.

I would highly recommend you go up to Quebec to work on your French! The thing to remember is that even though linguistically you may have it easier in Paris, culturally you will get a lot of resistance there if you go somewhere like Paris. They really do not have much patience for learners!

Either go to Quebec (which would be logistically so much easier for you) or go to Belgium, Switzerland or the south or other parts of France. Paris is best left for tourist trips, to be appreciated for its history and aesthetic beauty.

It will be a bit of a challenge at first, but I can assure you that I understand Geneviève pretty much as good as I understand any Parisian, and I just spent 3 months in Montreal! However, if you *just* learn Parisian French, you may never understand the many other wonderful dialects around the world.

Mary

Thanks for this video Benny! When I met people from Québec, I actually thought that Québéquois was more influenced by English than metropolitan French. I can think of a couple of expressions I heard my friend saying: “mopper” (passer la serpillère in French from France), clearly coming from “to mop”, and “cellulaire”. In any case I think they’re doing a great and intelligent job in using French as much as they can. Can’t say the same about Italian!

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

As stated in the comment by Julien, there are some anglicisms in Quebec French as well, but they otherwise do a good job of keeping things as French as possible. Italian certainly doesn’t care so much about such things.

http://twitter.com/JulienAUL Julien

Really cool and interesting interview although, as a french native, I’m gonna have to disagree about a few things of course

The difference of attitude between France and Quebec for exemple. It sounds more like you guys are talking about the differences between Quebec (the province), and the city of Paris. Paris is not France, and is actually reaaaaaally different from the rest of France! I’m sure you had quite a different feeling when you went to the other cities in France.

About the fact that everything is translated in Quebec, it’s true, and it’s something I actually found quite funny when I went to Montreal and saw for exemple, that the fast food chain “KFC” becomes “PFK” (“Poulets frits du Kentucky”) in Quebec. Changing the name of the brand! We do use shopping, stop and A LOT of english words in france (usually we just keep the word and put a terrible french accent on it), but it’s also true in a way in Quebec.
I saw quite a few Quebecois saying stuff like “waou c’est sick ca!” or “creepy”,etc in a french sentence. So we do the same in France, but not with the same words. Although I would say in Quebec they tend to stick more to the original pronouciation of the word.

Speaking about the difference of pronunciation, I do think this is the biggest difference between France and Quebec. She takes the exemple of butter and it is true that I probably wouldnt understand it the ways she says it. Not that I m not trying to, but it just sounds like a completly different word to me. Exactly the same as a lot of english natives speakers dont understand french when they speak english, cuz a lot of french do have a terrible accent, wich makes it very hard to understand. We’re just not used to hear it said this way.

And it seems like her accent is also giving you a hard time Benny, since you made a totally understandable translating mistake around 1:16. It sounds like she s saying pas autant (not so much) but she s actually saying pas hautain.(not haughty,snobbish)

Cheers from France and we love you Quebec!

Damn, I want a poutine now…

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

Great comment Julien!

Yes, I can confirm (as mentioned in the post) that our frustration is directed at Parisians. I didn’t explicitly say other French are huge improvements in the video (I always talk very highly of my time in Toulouse for example), but I did refer to my own frustration as being towards Parisians, and not the French. I think Geneviève has only visited Paris in France, so unfortunately she has got this more restricted view of the entire country.

I also agree that there are quite a lot of English words in Quebecois; party, chum, cheap, more willingness to say “yeah/yes” in some contexts, fun and several others come to mind. As you say, they stay more true to the English pronunciation. When I hear anglicisms in French from France for the first time, unless I see them written down I usually don’t have a clue what they are talking about! When they crop up in Quebec French, then I’ll recognise them instantly.

It seems to me that the distinction is more formal, this law 101 would mean that products and information would have very French terms, so in principle it seems like there are no English borrowings, but in practice, the actual spoken language has lots of words like those I gave above.

Thanks for pointing out the translation mistake! I knew I’d make at least one! Although I don’t think it’s problems understanding her accent in particular; I likely would have made that mistake if I was interviewing a Parisian!

Even though it’s not Quebec, I’ll be in Vancouver in a few weeks and the group I’ll be with assure me that we’ll be going to a Quebec restaurant and getting some poutine. I can’t wait!

jemblue

The issue comes down to when the words became adopted into French. Prior to the 1960s there was no language legislation, and English was clearly the language of prestige in Montreal. so English words were constantly borrowed and expressions translated. Whereas since the 60s there has been more of a push to come up with French equivalents. The borrowings from before then are still around, but there aren’t as many new ones. In France it’s the opposite – there are a ton of new terms that are used, but not many from before 40-50 years ago, and a lot fewer translated expressions.

No electronic things allowed? Do I want to even know what this camp is…? No iPods packed with gigabytes of podcasts? No Kindle with dozens of PDFs of vocabulary and grammar to review? No wifi to Skype people all over the world or Facebook to chat with them?

If not, then I guess you’ll have to kill a bunch of trees and bring some books with you! Perhaps other readers have suggestions, but I rely quite a lot on technology If you told me I had to survive without gadgets for any kind of period of time, I’d presume I was being incarcerated for some crime

http://www.uneasyrhetoric.net/ uneasy rhetoric

J’adore Montréal; in fact, I was there for the fête de Saint Jean in 2004. But something I thought odd was that, even if I started a conversation in French, they pegged me as American right away and switched to English. I always tried to assess whether the person was primarily Francophone or Anglophone, but I’m sure I got it wrong sometimes. Maybe that was my problem.

One of the more humorous (language-related) moments came when my wife and I went to an English-themed pub and the waitress apologized for having run out of English menus!

I also found it odd that apparently the word for Parking Lot in Québec is “Le Stationnement,” but the symbol is a big “P”.

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

Good catch! It’s an “E” in some of South America, like Brazil

The switch may have been due to your accent? It’s something similar here in Amsterdam. People who generally speak good English (the Dutch or the Quebecers) will switch to English if your accent is strong enough. They never do it with me because I’ve worked hard on my Rs. No Quebecer *ever* switched to English with me, only “les anglais”.

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

Keep in mind that the population of Quebec vs the population of French speaking Europe is quite different, so there will be more of a preference for European French all over the Internet.

There are also simply way more Brazilians than Portuguese, so it makes sense they dominate the material available. It isn’t quite as simple as Europe vs the Americas In some cases one dominates.

You actually can find resources and books available specifically about Quebec French, but the language hasn’t quite been standardised, so it is still formally represented as somewhat European. I believe this is intentional, to keep as much consistency as possible across the French speaking world, even though there are many differences. A standard French phrase book would indeed have you totally understood in Montreal!

But if you search for news stations based in Quebec you’ll find a lot of videos and podcasts online which have the distinct Quebec accent as they speak!

Chris

Très intéressant. I listen to French podcasts from Québec regularly and I like the Québec accent, better than the European accent. I just find it more interesting – the Parisien accent is just a bit too “perfect” if thar makes any sense.

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

After a negative experience in Paris I simply have negative associations with that accent, and prefer the Quebec one because of this.

Paul

Great video. Many thanks for that!

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

Wow really?? That’s so cool Thanks for sharing

http://howlearnspanish.com/ Andrew

Very cool! I love learning all the little tidbits about a culture like that, fascinating. French and Japanese are next on my hit list, for sure, I can’t wait to visit France.

I am ashame but you are so right about the french attitude when you do not speak perfect french in Paris. I am from Paris myself. I live abroad so maybe that’s why I have a different mentality but it was funny to hear that from you…

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

Luckily Parisians I’ve met who are well travelled tend to be much more open minded But to be honest, I’ve met all of these *outside* of Paris!!!

Maria Brown

Very interesting and informative. Thanks for sharing, Benny. I suppose I should not be surprised that there are so many differences, just as American English (what I speak) has many differnces from British and Australian English.

http://LifeByExperimentation.com Zane the Experimenter

Very useful interview! It was a great learning experience for me, both for practicing comprehension and learning about the differences. I definitely had a bit of a hard time with the Quebec accent!

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

Takes some getting used to if you are mainly familiar with European French, but it’s definitely worth it

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

Thanks for the positive words.

However, you can expect many videos like this. Unlike formal interviews, these are chats about topics that I feel are worth sharing on the blog. Geneviève was polite and shared her opinion, disagree with it as you may. Many things she shared, true or not, are sentiments felt by a lot of Quebecers, and a point of view I wanted to share with my readers.

You can see other commenters say that they are actually eager to go to Quebec now after watching this video, and that was the kind of result I was hoping for. Yes, there are negative feelings promoted in the video, and that’s unfortunate, but after living in Montreal for 3 months I feel like this video shares a general feeling many Quebecers have based on my experiences.

More videos with bold statements are coming. They do not represent my opinion, but I am not going to edit them out or tell the interviewee to tip toe over egg shells. If people are offended by this they may have to stop watching these videos. I do not think this video sullies anything I do; it contributes to the website and shares a unique cultural perspective.

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

Many do. I continue to highly recommend Paris for a weekend visit, but then to get out as soon as possible

Thanks for this perspective. I’m struggling with the dialect
issue myself. I’m ethnically Cajun French and live in Louisiana, but I don’t
speak the language (the public schools deliberately killed it off for
“Americanization” decades ago). Much like the Quebecers, we’re now
trying to keep the native language alive, and cultural pride has really grown
since the 2005 hurricanes nearly wiped us out. I’m currently learning French,
and my two young children start French immersion school next month, alas, our
teachers come directly from France so we’re learning European, not Acadian
style French.

I like European French well enough, however, it just doesn’t
feel like “our” French. Most locals here agree we can preserve but not *favor*
the Cajun dialect because it’s too different and other Francophones wouldn’t
easily understand us (like when I hear Glaswegian!). Since Cajuns migrated from
Canada, and Louisiana was part of “New France” (Acadia) before America bought
it, I feel this is closer to what we should be speaking. Plus, I prefer the
sound of Geneviève’s Quebec dialect
because it sounds more comfortable to my ear, like the casualness an American
southerner would naturally talk with. Louisiana
also has a strong Catholic history and would be quite comfortable cursing that way

Thanks for this perspective. I’m struggling with the dialect
issue myself. I’m ethnically Cajun French and live in Louisiana, but I don’t
speak the language (the public schools deliberately killed it off for
“Americanization” decades ago). Much like the Quebecers, we’re now
trying to keep the native language alive, and cultural pride has really grown
since the 2005 hurricanes nearly wiped us out. I’m currently learning French,
and my two young children start French immersion school next month, alas, our
teachers come directly from France so we’re learning European, not Acadian
style French.

I like European French well enough, however, it just doesn’t
feel like “our” French. Most locals here agree we can preserve but not *favor*
the Cajun dialect because it’s too different and other Francophones wouldn’t
easily understand us (like when I hear Glaswegian!). Since Cajuns migrated from
Canada, and Louisiana was part of “New France” (Acadia) before America bought
it, I feel this is closer to what we should be speaking. Plus, I prefer the
sound of Geneviève’s Quebec dialect
because it sounds more comfortable to my ear, like the casualness an American
southerner would naturally talk with. Louisiana
also has a strong Catholic history and would be quite comfortable cursing that way

So Geneviève, send some
teachers down here, chère!

http://twitter.com/patrice_clement Patrice Clement

I stumbled across this video while surfing YouTube (it comes up if you look up for Quebec French vs Metropolo

http://twitter.com/patrice_clement Patrice Clement

I stumbled across this video while surfing on YouTube, it actually comes up if you look up for Quebec French vs Metropolitan French.

One thing recurrent about us and that makes me cringe: the French attitude towards non-native speakers. Why does the World perceive us like that? It is somewhat true most of us French are proud of speaking le Français. But please, falling into generalizations is fairly easy. As Julien said a few comments below, Paris is not France: if you ever come to our country for a trip, go down to the South and/or South-East: people out there are way more open-minded than Parisians. As a southerner, I do agree Parisians are uptight, rude and talk to you as if they have a sweep stuck up their arse. Paris is nice for 2/3 days but escape out of it to the countryside of France. Worth it big time!

As a French native speaker, I see Quebec French as a mish-mash made of French and American English: Québécois have been living alonside America for some time now and as a result, English has greatly influenced the way they speak and the French language spoken in QC. The comparison between Metropolitan French/QC French as being the exact same as British English/American English is spot on. However, for those of you who are learning French, even though I respect QC French, you are better off going with Metropolitan French: France doesn’t get as much exposure with QC French as the world with American English does. They use a wad of expressions/sayings utterly unknown to French (ostie, calice, tabarnak, that kind of stuff) and people will puzzingly look at you thinking “what sort of word did he come out with?” if you speak like that in France. I had to look up some of them cause I was bewildered when I read them first time (prendre une marche for instance, litteral translation from take a walk).

Anyway, nice video Benny. Keep up! Tu parles bien Français.

Patrice

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny Lewis

As I’ve said before, I only ever refer to Parisians when complaining about attitudes and not the French in general, and I did so in this video and in the description. I lived in Toulouse for 3 months and in Brittany for one month and really enjoyed myself.

But you would do well to appreciate Quebec French much more. From their perspective, European French is a mish-mash of French and British English. I find both of you use an almost equal amount of English words, but in different ways, so one always whines about the other using more than them. In France you have stop, parking, weekend and in Quebec they have party, fun, chum. No matter who I listen to complain about other country’s French, I find it hypocritical!

But yes, this is the charm of les francophones I guess

Lorelei Pepi

That was so cool! I’ve been looking online for help in listening to native Quebecois speakers, and your conversation was really easy to listen to, especially because you took the time to give us subtitle translations.

Jenn

I’m a canadian from Vancouver, and growing up, it was mandatory for me to learn french from grade 4 to grade 8. After that it was optional. It has given me a good feel for the language, and i have always felt like i have an affinity towards french more then other languages. Even though i’m from vancouver, which is probably the most far removed from any francophone culture (i’ve never met anyone from quebec before :O), the fact that everything is written in both english and french means that my vocabulary is pretty expansive for someone just starting out, although it definitely mostly relates to food For example i know the word for wheat (le ble), cinammon (la canelle), oil (l’huile) etc, even though it was never brought up in school, it is simply from reading, say, the cereal box when i’m bored.
I wish Canada had a better system for teaching french to anglophones, After grade 8 i stopped learning french, because the past 4 years had made me hate it! Now i’m kicking myself, because i have actually discovered that i love the french language.
I do have some advantages over a completely new learner of french. Such as the fact that I have pretty decent pronunciation, i can usually just look at a word and pronounce it properly. I can read french rather well (about 50-75%), where i at least get the gist, and i already have a good base for vocabulary.
Anyways, great post, and i have one quick question
After knowing all these languages, and refusing to speak english when you learn a new one, do you find that your level of english has gone down? I’m personally worried that if learn a language to fluency, and speak no english, that my english will degrade a bit. I have a friend from germany who refused to speak german, only english, and even thought in english, and he told me that when he goes back home, his german isn’t at the high level it was before…

My friends from Normandy are visiting and my French Canadian friend is acting as interpreter without any problems at all. Apparently, not all FCs have an accent that can cause problems.

Jashn

Actually, many French-Canadians can trace their roots to the region of Normandy, so it’s not a surprise that a Quebecois/French-Canadian can easily communicate with people from that region. Their dialects would be more similar than a Quebecois and a Parisian, for example.

jemblue

That would have been more true 100-150 years ago, when most people in Normandy spoke Norman and only knew Standard French as a second language. Today they pretty much speak Standard French, with just the occasional Normanism thrown in.

La pieuvre

My ancestors came from Rouen and arrived in 1634, in the first large wave of french peasant immigration. Many Québécois have their roots in Normandy, but also various other regions which at the time spoke different dialects. Les habitants, as they called themselves at the time, converged over royal french to be mutually intelligible. Each adding variations from their respective regional dialects. This is how Québécois french was born. From a purely linguistic-historical point of view, asides from borrowed english words, phonetically Québécois french is “pure” french. Actually, France was linguistically united towards the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, making Québec the country speaking french as a national language for the longest on earth.

Neyane

That’s really odd to ear canadian speak about french like this, I don’t feel like the french that she’s talking about, me too I want the other peoples to speak my language, anyway if they’re doing mistakes at the beginning! I had a canadian teenager at home (from Alberta, so she speak english), and it was fun to see her progress in French! But I know some people in Paris have the reputation to have a bad behavior.

http://www.facebook.com/silk.eotd Silk Eotd

I don’t understand your idea of the Quebec accent being influenced by the U.S.?? I’m also a Canadian, an Anglophone Canadian living near the New York border and I assure you my accent is completely different than the Americans living 30 minutes from me over the border.

http://www.facebook.com/silk.eotd Silk Eotd

I’m Canadian and live near the U.S. border in Ontario but I have been to Quebec twice and loved it. I miss Quebec!

Jacob De Camillis

You should do a posting on the sister patois: Acadian and Cajun French! Québec is only part of the picture of French in North America.

LittleStudent

Lol, try speaking French in Quebec when you are Acadian, they hate it. You’re no better than an Anglophone. And don’t even bring up France, they get butthurt.

Jashn

Canadian English is not a monolith. Rather than Tennessee English, they might prefer Newfoundland’s English…very Irish, very interesting.

LPS

They probably just saw you struggling in French and spoke to you in English as a courtesy.

John

Last week I drove
past my old university town in southern France and stopped over at a popular
bakery to pick up baguettes (French crusty bread). However there was none left
in stock. So I left and told the store keeper I would return in about an hour,
and asked that she have one in the oven ready for me. By the time I returned those
were again finished.

I told the woman that I was happy their
baguettes were still as good as I remembered them to be, and that people still
queued up to buy them. I told her I used to come there every day to buy a loaf
while at school. She gave me a modest look, smiled, put on a wry expression and
continued to attend to others. I walked away missing France. A friend who was
just moved to France was with me at the time. He felt offended that the woman
didn’t seem to welcome my appreciation. Then I told him that her behaviour was
attribute no. 102 of Frenchship! What my friend didn’t know was that my
positive comment could very well end up an hour-long discussion at dinner time
in the lady’s home.

These attitudes have been summarised in the
book FRENCH ATTITUDE 101: One hundred and one behavioural attributes of
Frenchship.

A book by Brian C. Kelly

http://www.facebook.com/Andie.Tinhof Andrea Tinhof

From a linguistic, cultural, regional and historical standpoint your comment makes no sense at all. Do you REALLY think Celine Dion’s accent, for example, sounds ANYTHING like anglophones from the West Island of Montreal, who have a completely non-regional American english accents?

http://www.facebook.com/daniell.lind Daniell Lind

It’s funny. I’m American. My husband is from northern Ontario, both parents only speak French. I speak none. It’s been quite the burden on our relationship. It’s vary hard to try and learn French when none of the lessons sound like them. Today we argued about that fact that he believes when he says English words with a French accent it because that’s how you say it in French. I don’t believe that. Like for instance Las Angeles, this is Spanish, while English speakers may not pronounce it correctly, we don’t say it in English. The angles. If there is no French word or the name of something, say it the proper way. If I say words wrong in French it probably because I don’t feel comfortable saying it properly. Not because that’s how you say it in English. It’s not English!!! I was trying to tell him not to put a French accent on English words when speaking to his mother so she could learn. He just doesn’t get it.

http://www.facebook.com/daniell.lind Daniell Lind

It’s funny. I’m American. My husband is from northern Ontario, both parents only speak French. I speak none. It’s been quite the burden on our relationship. It’s vary hard to try and learn French when none of the lessons sound like them. Today we argued about that fact that he believes when he says English words with a French accent it because that’s how you say it in French. I don’t believe that. Like for instance Las Angeles, this is Spanish, while English speakers may not pronounce it correctly, we don’t say it in English. The angles. If there is no French word or the name of something, say it the proper way. If I say words wrong in French it probably because I don’t feel comfortable saying it properly. Not because that’s how you say it in English. It’s not English!!! I was trying to tell him not to put a French accent on English words when speaking to his mother so she could learn. He just doesn’t get it.

jemblue

You talk about “French being shoved down people’s throats,” but the reality is that French Canadians are FAR more likely to speak English fluently than English Canadians are to speak French. In Quebec, 40% of the population is bilingual; in the rest of Canada, it’s only 10%.

Canada is supposed to be a bilingual country, but it’s mostly only the francophones who actually follow that dictum. The anglophones mostly remain monolingual and whine that everyone isn’t like them. How good is your French, Phil?

Serge L.

IKE: You posted: ” it is almost impossible to distinguish between a quebecois speaking English and an American/Canadian speaking English…As for the quebecois speaking French, this accent seems to me also strongly influenced by US” My parents have been in the US for many years. There accents is still thick today as the day they left. In fact they could not speak english when they moved to the US. Also I have a huge family in Quebec and very few of them can speak english. Your other statement that the Quebec accent is influenced by the english is completely wrong. Don’t know where that came from.

Serge L.

Quebec is not Canada. We are separate and yes we are different. Please do not forget the only reason Quebec is part of Canada is due to a military invasion and conquering of a people. I assure you the people of Quebec have not forgotten this and will never forget it. It is a dream and someday it will be a reality to decide our own destiny and future by becoming an independent nation. This is our right. It is necessary for the survival of Quebec and Quebecois.

Ato Akatoki

I don’t want to debate about de separation, i just want to say that: quebecers always (or almost ) try to speak in english if you don’t know french. It’s also a problem because people who wants tho learn french in Quebec can’t because everybody wants to be sweet and speaks english. lol

Serge L.

There is no attitude coming from the french. It is from you and anglos like you…but you refuse to see it. Quebec is french not english. Please show some respect for the language and culture and you will be shown respect. Of course you have to learn french in school….Quebec is french not english. Do not forget the only reason Quebec is in Canada is due to an illegal military invasion and conquering of a people. Anglos like you refuse to understand this and look in the mirror because the only ” stinking attitude ” is coming from you. The discrimination against the french must stop.

I plan to move to Quebec by next January. I will DEFINITELY immerse myself in Quebec French and Quebec culture and live in Montreal too. I want to move there. But I also want to reach out to all my Francophone brothers and sisters throughout the Toronto area. Bon Chance!

KY123

Thanks so much for this post. I learned so much!! The video was excellent!

Little late to the party here, but loved this video….my wife is French (we live in Chicago) and we visited Montreal for the first time last year and it was almost more French than France the way they guard the language. Really enjoyed this couch surfing session, thank you!

Hi Marjorie !! 3- rd attempt to leave a reply to you !! A real hassle to write here from IPad and IPhone !! Thank you for your nice words and enjoy the Sunday !!

Anca De Cercel

Hi Marjorie !! Can’t right fom the IPad !!!

Anca De Cercel

I am writing in Blind mode !! Of course I am speaking French , English and not so bad Italian !! My my Ccbirth Country it’s Romania so .. Romanian !! It’s nice to meet you and to exchange with you !! We just come back from France when we still have family !! If you would like .. You can send me a friend request in Fb !! I already liked this Blog so would be easy to find me !!! Have a great Evening .. Sorry God Night already !! I can’t see it what I wrote !!! Hahaha .. Hope come out properly !!!

Marjorie Loup

Hi Anca,
I cannot find you on FB
Nobody in Canada with your name…
My pseudo is : Histoire à Vivre Jeunesse
See you
Marjorie

Anca De Cercel

Hi Marjorie !! I suposs you must be busy and you didn’t see it my friend request and message in FB !? I also sent to you here all my info !! Same name and same personne , only difference it’s for FB when added Ariel ( my Spiritual name ) !!! As see it your FB Profile .. I was so pleasant surprised to see so many similarity in interests !!! Au Plaisir des exchanges future !!! Amicalment Anca !!!

Andi

This is rather on the late side, but I just read this article and as an Anglophone Montrealer, I felt I had to respond.
Firstly, your accent is very genteel:)
Secondly, Quebec really is a lovely place. All feel free to come visit. Even if you don’t want to learn French and/or don’t speak a word of the language, it’s quite easy to get around.
Thirdly, I find it very ironic that Genevieve thinks Anglophones have an easier time finding jobs than Francophones. As an Anglophone in an Anglophone community, it seems like you must speak fluent French to get a job, unless it’s within a community business, of course. I gave up looking for a job in my field, because my French is not quite up to par. Instead I do work by correspondence with bosses in the States and Toronto. Grass always seems greener on the other side!
Lastly, great article, great interview and keep them coming.

La pieuvre

I’d say part courtesy, part opportunity to pratice english themselves. I am Québécois, but my mother is Hungarian and grew up in Toronto. As a result I speak fluently both french and english. I would say that many people here in Québec have a serious inferiority complex towards english speaking north america. For many it is percieved that not learning english is a sentence to failure or stagnation.

On the flipside, for some it is a manner of showing that we have actually learned our neighbours language with relative ease, whereas they have not. The whole issue is very complex and rooted in a long history of english domination over economic and political affairs.

steph dumais

I’m from Montreal as well and I can see some bias in perceptions from your guest. But I would especially like correct a mistake she made. She claims french is only spoken in Quebec inside Canada. This is not true, there are large french speaking communities in every province of Canada ( notably Ontario ). Also, only one province in Canada is officialy bilingual, and that is New Brunswick. – EDIT: I just finished reading the other comments and someone already pointed this out!

mike1888

Hi Benny,

this will be the millionth time I’ve watched this video. I was so happy when I first found it. I have just read a load of the comments below and it seems to be a common theme that I share with you and many concerning the Parisians. I won’t tar them all with the same brush, though. I’m sure there are nice Parisians out there who would be patient with us French learners.

Anyway, I leave for Montréal on Tuesday from London and if I play my cards right, I will be there for 6 months (at the moment it’s only a definite 3). I have been learning French for 7 years now and this trip is my Residence Abroad (3rd year of my Uni course). I honestly cannot wait! I have read nothing but good things about Montréal and Québec (now including this blog entry and the comments) and j’ai tellement hâte to experience it for myself [couldn’t resist throwing in a bit o’ français, there]!

I would like to point out to your readers/subscribers to your blog, whatever you call them, that if they would like resources to help them learn about Canadian French, there are some books I have bought through Amazon that are also available on Kindle and as eBooks for your iPad called:

Le Parler québécois pour les nuls (really interesting background information given on origins of different words and phrases and a little bit of history at the start – ignore the possibly offensive title but it’s the “…for Dummies” series: personally I don’t appreciate such negativity when it comes to language learning!)

and

Les 1000 mots indispensables en Québécois (basically organised vocabulary lists both European French > Canadian French and CF > EF, again with explanations but not as detailed as the first one I mentioned).

Keep up the great work, Benny. I was pleasantly surprised to see that you recently subscribed to me on YouTube and Google (Plus?), too. I will be keeping a vlog for this year’s Uni project all in French (then in Italian for my second placement next year) so I can literally hear my progress. So excited!

A plus mon ami!

Nicole Gauvreau

I’ve discovered I have a much easier time with aural Québec French, interesting….
I disagree on the whole Québec as a bilingual province bit, out side of Montréal and Estrie I find the province to be far more francophone than bilingual. legally, Québec isn’t bilingual at all, it’s monolingual French. The only officially bilingual province is New Brunswick.
On a side note, I would think you (Benny) learned French in Vermont or Maine!

Eldred Moye

This was extremely helpful! I’m a french major at a university and I want to do a study abroad and I was looking at France, of course. But I’ve always been discouraged by the “French attitude”. Maybe Quebec would fit my personality more.

Québec is great. You can get a taste of the xenophobia of France without having to travel across the Atlantic. If you’re lucky, you’ll even enjoy the experience of being verbally attacked for speaking English. This no less in Montréal, a city essentially built by English-speaking merchants and driven out in recent times. Enjoy!

That was a very nice video, but I’m learning French and I still have some doubts. Is it important for me to focus solely on one or the other (french or quebecois)? I’ve been watching movies in the french language and I recently found a lot of movies that had a french and a quebecois dubbing. Would it hurt my learning if I mixed both of them? Should I stick to only one at least while I’m on the basics?

Romaena Kahmal

I actually feel the opposite, that Quebecois are more defensive about their language and quite prejudicial against anglophones, compared to European French speakers. I find the comments about the English being wealthier outdated, and the opposite is also true about forced bilingualism for Quebecois… It’s forced on needed educated non-native french speakers, even if they work in the English system. (hospitals, eg). Immigrants are give stipends for french instruction, but Canadians are not. Example : my OQLF has been graded more harshly than my immigrant counterparts, even though we had been given the same questions, believe me, prejudice is alive and well in this province, but you have the wrong side…. I didn’t have this issue in New Brunswick, however.

Reg

Really helpful to me, as I had just watched Monsieur Lazhar which was my first run-in with Quebec French. Had spent a year in Southern France (Provence) on work assignment, so hearing Quebec French with viens and bien a little like people say it in Marseille brings back pleasant memories.

amazing video! I got interested in learning French to go on a move to Montreal in the future. Got even more excited hearing that people are completely open and about the great environment that should it be.

Also, really amazing you can speak so many languages. I myself am an easy learner with languages and had experienced living in different countries. Now I had settle down a bit in Brazil again (hopefully soon to Canada), but great to hear the final statement of your friend saying what to live in this world is about. Totally into it!

Most francophones in Quebec treat those who aren’t french like crap, with heaps of animosity and hostility (Source: I lived there and left, after 31 years, as did my husband, despite speaking french, english and a few other languages fluently).

Oh and by the way quebec is not the only place they speak french, maybe you should do some research and stop being a typical québécois. When you come to ontario you expect everyone to speak french to you, but if we (English) Canadian people go to quebec you do not speak a lick of English. I wish you separated along time a go from Canada. Cause you (Québécois) are not even Canadian

JenBetweenDots

This was great – thanks! Loved hearing the differences. I went to Quebec when I was 16 on a student exchange program and really loved it there. Most of my teachers were from France and we were taught France French in school so the slang in Quebec was quite an adjustment!

Now, I would disagree with the “outside of Quebec they only speak English” part because I was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta and speak fluent French! I have a lot of friends who speak French as well, and many friends from Saskatchewan who were raised in French communities. I realize you made the correction and included the caveat “forgetting about New Brunswick and many strong francophone communities throughout Canada”, but there are French immersion (and Spanish immersion) schools everywhere. We have 24 French immersion schools in Calgary alone! (Plus 10 other schools offering Spanish, German, or Chinese immersion). So that “outside Quebec they only speak English” bit isn’t entirely accurate!

In truth, Québec is not bilingual at all! Not officially anyway. Nor is Ontario (although Ottawa is by national law). By official provincial law, the multilingual provinces are Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, NWT, Yukon, and Nunavut.

–Brandon, the Fi3M Language Encourager

Melissa

Definetly agree about the french in canada!

however keep in mind Quebec ARE Canadiens aswell…

Melissa

Sorry to disagree Alice, Ontario is also a bilingual province…
Many provinces in Canada are bilingual, hence why our country’s first main languages are French AND English.

Reamary

I believe many provinces in Canada can be “unofficially” bilingual, but according to my knowledge as well, New Brunswick is indeed the ONLY, OFFICIALLY bilingual province.

Kent McPhee

Many people forget that Manitoba is also an officially bilingual province, owing largely to its Métis history.

Marc Pellerin

This is only half right…If you want to come and talk to me about French…You come and see me…There’s Tons of French not mentioned in this video…Firstly…Quebec French…Canadian French and France French is all different…and don’t think it’s only the France French that have their nose up…Try speaking broken french in St-Jean…or Deep in Quebec…There’s all sort of French Dialect…From New Brunswick…New Found Land…Acadie…to the Louisanne…I’m from Ottawa ON…Moved to Saskatoon SK…I Know My French…

Valerie

Thanks for posting! I’m taking a trip to Montreal soon and have only been to France previously so this was very enlightening!

robert zwirecki

vive la france!!

Ana Sofii Vargas

I am going to Quebec to study 4 months. I was so nervous though I’ve studied french and english for most of my life (I’m mexican). This video helped me so much and I’m actually more excited than nervous. I’m hoping people won’t make fun of me because I’m not very fluent but as she said…I’m going with the whole attitude.
Thank you so much for your video.

Stephen Kirby

Just as Paris isn’t France, Montreal isn’t Quebec. I’ve had nothing but wonderful experiences anytime I’ve ever been to Montreal. The closer you are to English speaking Canada however, the people and attitudes drastically change. I’ve spoken french my entire life and have never been ridiculed till I moved to Hull/Gatineau. People I knew could speak English but refused, or would outright refuse to serve you because you were not from Quebec. I lived there for ten years and it was horrible. We were living there on Sept. 11, 2001 and my neighbors had a huge party to celebrate the deaths in NY. They outright hate the English and despise Americans. Montreal is a wonderful lively city full of very colorful and friendly people. It sadly however doesn’t represent the reality in other areas of Quebec.

Whitney

This is fantastic! I’m a french teacher and have only traveled to France in regards to French – speaking countries. I feel I’ve learned so much just by watching this. I look forward to showing this in class (skipping the cursing lesson ha ha) and having a discussion merci pour ton vidéo!

Her views on English and French are perhaps describing Montreal in the 1950s. TImes have changed, but these myths persist unfortunately.

Janet Lingel Aldrich

Merci — I have been trying to learn Quebecois French (as part of learning French — I live in Ohio and it’s a lot closer to go to Montréal than Paris – and I’m a Habs fan), and it was a big help to hear some of the words I’d only read before. I can learn to read and write on my own. I definitely need a way to hear/speak, since I’m not likely to go to QC in the very near future. Pourriez-vous m’aide?

Joe Gabriel – Fi3M Team

Hey Janet!

I was just reading this other post from Benny called Speak Like a Quebecker and it had some good learning resources.

Also, I found these native French speakers from Canada on iTalkithat you can connect with for practice!

Keep it up and let us know how these resources treat you

Janet Lingel Aldrich

I knew I’d seen that post but I couldn’t remember where .. thanks for the link.

This is indeed biased, but I don’t think I’ll be diving deeper into the controversy! I do plan on doing another interview in French in a few weeks (with a Belgian most likely), but it will be about something completely different.

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

Bravo Jonathan! Je suis 100% d’accord avec vous deux

http://www.fluentin3months.com/ Benny the Irish polyglot

Merci Gavin! I’m in Portland now and looking forward to checking it out!
More interviews on the way soon!

jemblue

In theory, Canada is a bilingual country, but in reality, only around 17% of the population reported fluency in both languages in the last census – and a disproportionate number of them were francophones.